Wednesday, October 27, 2010

I have created pop music mixes for nearly every liturgical season. While I had intended to revise the one for All Saints/All Souls, I seem to have run out of time. No matter; as it stands, it’s one of my favorites. And maybe I’ll brush it up for 2011.

Yes, these recordings are under copyright, but the way I have mixed them into suites is original to me. If you hear something you like, please go buy it.

All told, it’s about two hours and twenty minutes of music. Enjoy this pop music festival of death and redemption.

Suite 1: The Souls of the Saints

Ya Kid K – Life
Yael Naim – New Soul
Simon & Garfunkel – Blessed
Sufjan Stevens – The Vivian Girls Are Visited in the Night by Saint Dargarius and His Squadron of Benevolent Butterflies
U2 & Green Day – The Saints Are Coming
XTC – In Loving Memory of a Name
Sarah McLachlan – Prayer of St. Francis

Ralph Stanley – O Death
Blue Oyster Cult – (Don’t Fear) the Reaper
They Might Be Giants – Dead
XTC – Rook
Postal Service – We Will Become Silhouettes
Death Cab for Cutie – I Will Follow You into the Dark

Only two hits left. Up next, a song that had a dance to go with it. I first tried to dance to it at a wedding. Come to think of it, a wedding is one place you may still dance to it today. And the band that recorded the song hails from Spain. What's the song?

Monday, October 4, 2010

At #6: What band will give you change for your dollar? Nickelback, of course.

Up next at #5, another song from the 2000s -- a one-word title with an important punctuation mark. Sounds great in a club at a high volume. And the lead artist could be someone who works in a theater or volunteers in a church. Can you guess?

Friday, October 1, 2010

At #8, the most recent hit among the top 10 hits of my lifetime comes from rapper Flo Rida: "Low." It's the biggest hit of the past five years, with Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling" running a close second. (That one landed at #12 on the top 1000.)

Up next: the oldest song in the top 10 is pre-MTV, pre-new wave, contemporary with disco, but definitely not disco. It was the biggest pop hit of the 1970s, but it was also a huge contemporary Christian hit. What is it?